Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to Chicago-based band, Canning. Shortline was released in May of 2022 and we can’t believe we’re only just hearing this 70s -rock inspired instant classic!
Canning are Ricky Canning – Guitar/Vocal Fritz Armstrong – Bass/Vocal Tom Miller – Drums and have been playing together since the end of high school. It shows. These guys are tight, and we can only imagine how exciting their live show must be. The song was tracked live (except for guitar solo and vocals) and it demonstrates a commitment in the band to produce quality energetic music.
Shortline comes in with a catchy electric guitar riff before the drums and bass join the mix. The guitar is crunchy and heavy and the bass line follows the guitar line perfectly.
The vocals come in and we’re instantly smiling and nodding! This is some quality harmony work. Tight, pleasant harmonies and layered vocals give the song a slightly Aerosmith feel in places (think: Sweet Emotion), especially in the choruses. When the lead vocalist sings alone, you can’t help but draw comparisons to Black Crowes with touches of Robert Plant. These are some high-quality passionate vocals that we could listen to all day.
The repeated guitar riff gets under your skin – in a good way(!) and you find yourself nodding along and enjoying the ride. The guitar solo has a fantastic nostalgic tone with some superb note choices, reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughan. We loved the subtle addition of a tambourine underneath the guitar solo that filled out the sound nicely and created some extra excitement.
It’s very clear that all the members of Canning are highly proficient musicians who gel exceptionally well together. This is a superb track that ticked so many boxes for us. With a great hook, quality musicianship and astounding vocals, this is a band we can really get behind.
Ideas from our ears
The main track could benefit from a little more happening in the 400-900Hz range. The vocal sits nicely here but possibly feels a little ‘hollow’ during the instrumental sections. The solo guitar feels slightly harsh around the 3kHz range too so a careful cut here could help. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
This was our first introduction to the music of Canning, but if this track is anything to go by, then we’re hooked! We’re looking forward to hearing much more from this Chicago-based Classic Rock band.
https://www.canningmusic.net
https://www.facebook.com/canningmusic
https://twitter.com/canningmusic
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4Yp84IwiiWvouuexYJg2dF
https://soundcloud.com/canningmusic
https://canningmusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW1wbeq4AcC-HCsxrExmtRA
https://www.instagram.com/canningmusic
https://www.songkick.com/artists/2989396-canning